Hubble Space Telescope Discovers a Double Nucleus in the Core of an Active Galaxy

January 7, 1993: Astronomers announced today the discovery of a double nucleus in the active galaxy
Markarian 315. The discovery was made from images taken by NASA's Hubble Space
Telescope. The findings may solve a decade-old mystery about the nature of a
jet-like feature in Markarian 315, a so-called Seyfert galaxy, and appear to confirm
one mechanism for producing an active galactic nucleus. (Seyfert galaxies are spiral
galaxies with very bright nuclei that may be powered by massive black holes that are
accreting matter.)